Revolutionary War Timeline of Battles

1775

The Rides of Paul Revere and William Dawes (4/18)

The Battles of Lexington and Concord (4/19)

Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys Seize Fort Ticonderoga (5/10)

The Second Continental Congress (met in Philadelphia, 5/10)

George Washington named Commander in Chief (6/15)

Battle of Bunker Hill (fought on Breed's Hill) (6/17)

Montgomery captures Montreal for Americans (11/13)

Benedict Arnold's failed attack on Quebec (12/30)

1776

Thomas Paine's "Common Sense" published (1/15)

Patriot triumph at Moore's Creek, NC (2/27)

Continental fleet captures New Providence Island in the Bahamas (3/3)

The British evacuate Boston (3/17)

Richard Henry Lee proposes Independence (6/7)

British defense of Fort Moultrie, SC (6/28)

Declaration of Independence adopted (7/4)

Declaration of Independence signed (8/2)

Arrival of 30,000 British troops in New York harbor

British win the Battle of Long Island (Battle of Brooklyn) (8/27-30)

British occupy New York City (9/15)

British win the Battle of Harlem Heights (9/16)

Benedict Arnold defeated at Lake Champlain (10/11)

American retreat at the Battle of White Plains (10/28)

British capture Fort Washington, NY and Fort Lee, NJ (11/16)

Washington Crosses the Delaware and captures Trenton (12/26)

1777

Washington wins the Battle of Princeton (1/3)

Washington winters in Morristown, NJ (1/6-5/28)

Flag Resolution (flag possibly designed by Hopkinson, likely sewn by Betsy Ross) (6/14)

St. Clair surrenders Fort Ticonderoga to the British (7/5)

Lafayette arrives in Philadelphia (7/27)

Americans under Herkimer defeat the British under St. Leger at Fort Stanwix, in the Mohawk Valley in Oriskany, New York (8/6)

American Militia under General Stark triumph over Hessians at Bennington (8/16)

British General Howe lands at Head of Elk, Maryland (8/25)

British success at the Battle of Brandywine, PA (9/11)

Rain-out at the Battle of the Clouds, PA (9/16)

General Burgoyne checked by Americans under Gates at Freeman's Farm, NY (9/19)

Paoli Massacre, PA (9/21)

British under Howe occupy Philadelphia (9/26)

Americans driven off at the Battle of Germantown (10/4)

Burgoyne loses second battle of Freeman's Farm, NY (at Bemis Heights) (10/7)

Burgoyne surrenders to American General Gates at Saratoga, NY (10/17)

Hessian attack on Fort Mercer, NJ repulsed (10/22)

British capture Fort Mifflin, PA (11/16)

Americans repulse British at Whitemarsh, PA (12/5-7)

The Winter at Valley Forge, PA (12/19/77-6/19/78)

1778

The French Alliance (2/6)

British General William Howe replaced by Henry Clinton (3/7)

Von Steuben arrives at Valley Forge

Battle of Barren Hill, PA (5/20)

Washington fights to a draw at Battle of Monmouth (6/28)

George Rogers Clark captured Kaskaskia, a French village near Detroit (7/4)

French and American forces besiege Newport, RI (8/8)

British occupy Savannah, GA (12/29)

1779

Militia beat Tories at Kettle Creek, NC (2/14)

American George Rogers Clark captures Vincennes on the Wabash in the Western campaign (2/25)

Fairfield, CT, burned by British (7/8)

Norwalk, CT, burned by British (7/11)

American "Mad" Anthony Wayne captures Stony Point, NY (7/15-16)

"Light Horse" Harry Lee attacks Paulus Hook, NJ (8/19)

John Paul Jones, aboard the Bonhomme Richard, captures British man-of-war Serapis near English coast (9/23)

The Tappan Massacre ("No Flint" Grey kills 30 Americans by bayonet) (9/28)

American attempt to recapture Savannah, GA fails (10/9)

Coldest Winter of the war, Washington at Morristown, NJ

1780

British capture Charleston, SC (5/12)

British crush Americans at Waxhaw Creek, SC (5/29)

Patriots rout Tories at Ramseur's Mill, NC (6/20)

French troops arrive at Newport, RI, to aid the American cause (7/11)

Patriots defeat Tories at Hanging Rock, SC (8/6)v British rout Americans at Camden, SC (8/16)

Benedict Arnold's plans to cede West Point to the British discovered (9/25)

King's Mountain, SC: battle lasted 65 minutes. American troops led by Isaac Shelby and John Sevier defeated Maj. Patrick Ferguson and one-third of General Cornwallis' army. (10/7)

Washington names Nathanael Greene commander of the Southern Army (10/14)

1781

Mutiny of unpaid Pennsylvania soldiers (1/1)

Patriot Morgan overwhelming defeated British Col. Tarleton at Cowpens, SC (1/17)

Articles of Confederation adopted (3/2)

British win costly victory at Guilford Courthouse, NC (3/15)vGreene defeated at Hobkirk's Hill, SC (4/25)

Cornwallis clashed with Greene at Guilford Courthouse, NC (5/15)

Americans recapture Augusta, GA (6/6)

British hold off Americans at Ninety Six, SC (6/18)

"Mad" Anthony Wayne repulsed at Green Springs Farm, VA (7/6)

Greene defeated at Eutaw Springs, SC (9/8)

French fleet drove British naval force from Chesapeake Bay (9/15)

Cornwallis surrounded on land and sea by Americans and French and surrenders at Yorktown, VA (10/19)

1782 and Beyond

Lord North resigned as British Prime Minister (3/20/82)

British evacuated Savannah, GA (7/11/82)

British sign Articles of Peace (11/30/82)

British leave Charleston, SC (12/14/82)

Congress ratifies preliminary peace treaty (4/19/83)

Treaty of Paris (9/3/83)

British troops leave New York (11/25/83)

Washington Resigns as Commander (12/23/83)

U.S. Constitution ratified (9/17/87)

1733 Molasses Act

1754-1763 French and Indian War

1763 Proclamation of 1763

1764 Law passed which forbid the colonies from printing or using their won money

1765 Stamp Act

1767 Townsend Act

March 5, 1770 Soldiers kill five colonists in the Boston Massacre

December 16, 1773 The Boston Tea Party

September 5 - October 26, 1774 First Continental Congress Met in Philadelphia

Lexington and Concord

April 19, 1775 Battles of Concord and Lexington

May 10, 1775 Second Continental Congress Met in Philadelphia

May 10, 1775 Capture by Colonists of forts and arsenals at Ticonderoga

May 11, 1775 Battle of Crown Point - Green Mountain Boys & Ethan Allen attacked the British Fort Ticonderoga near Lake Champlain and won

June 15, 1775 Congress names George Washington as Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army

Bunker Hill

June 17, 1775 Battle of Bunker Hill

December 31, 1775 American army invaded Canada and tried to take Quebec but failed

January 1776 Thomas Paine published Common Sense

March 1776 Battle of Dorchester Heights

July 4, 1776 Declaration of Independence

August 1776 Arrival of 30,000 British troops in New York harbor

Long Island

August 27, 1776 Battle of Long Island - Americans defeated

September 16, 1776 Battle of Harlem Heights - Americans defeated

                      

White Plains   Trenton   Princeton

October 28, 1776 Battle of White Plains - Americans defeated

December 25 -January 3, 1776-77 Crossing of the Delaware & Battles of Trenton and Princeton, NJ - Americans win

1777 Winter Quarters at Princeton

Ticonderoga

July 5, 1777 Ticonderoga captured by the British

September 19-October 7, 1777 Battle of Saratoga, NY - Americans win

October 17, 1777 Burgoyne surrenders at Saratoga

September 11, 1777 Battle of Brandywine - Americans defeated

October 4, 1777 Battle of Germantown - Americans retreat

December 19, 1777 Encampment at Valley Forge for the Winter.

February 6, 1778 Ben Franklin encourages France to sign an alliance with the United States

June 19, 1778 Evacuation of Valley Forge Winter Quarters.

June 28, 1778 Battle of Monmouth

December 29, 1778 Savannah taken by the British

1779 Lafayette goes to France to plead for help

September 1779 John Paul Jones's Bonhomme Richard captures the British Serapis

Charles Towne, S.C.

May 12, 1780 Charlestown, SC taken by the British

August 16, 1780 Gates defeated by Cornwallis near Camden, South Carolina.

September 23, 1780 Benedict Arnold's plot to surrender West Point frustrated.

Kings Mountain

October 7, 1780 King's Mountain - British defeated

1780 Rochambeau arrives in America with 5,500 men.

1781 Powerful French fleet under deGrasse arrives - Block British naval force in Chesapeake Bay

January 17, 1781 Cowpens - British defeated

March 15,

1781 Guilford Court

House - Americans defeated

1781 Greene clears interior of South Carolina and Georgia of the enemy

October 19, 1781 Cornwallis surrenders at Yorktown

November 30, 1782 Provisional Peace

September 3, 1783 Treaty of Peace of Paris